Part Two: Wish for Death

"The Hidden Rock Village?!" Sakura gasped.

They nodded.

"No one's ever come for a Chuunin exam before," she said. "Why…why now?"

They shrugged.

"What about you—well, the three of you, at any rate. Where—?"

"Don't be blind, Oriki, they're from the very village we're looking for, isn't that right, Tara?"

She looked at them.

"You can see it, can't you?"

She nodded.

"Then, well, are they?"

She shrugged.

"She doesn't talk much," Kankurou noticed.

"She doesn't like to bother with it," replied Ariki. "She'd rather mock us all silently."

"You won't be participating this year, then, will you?" asked Oriki, looking slightly disappointed. "Well, either way, you should come and watch. We'll wipe the stadium with anyone who opposes us."

Ariki rolled his eyes. "Come on, brother."

"Why?"

"We have to prepare."

"Why?"

"We just do."

"Why?"

"Shut up."

"Why?"

"ORIKI!"

The other twin cackled and jumped into the trees, Ariki following, shuriken and kunai shooting at Oriki.

Tara didn't move. She was watching the others, as if willing them to continue what they had been doing. When they didn't, she finally turned and walked into the forest.

"That was weird," Sakura said.

"That was more than weird," said Naruto. "Talk about creepy…eesh…"

"Those twins said she could see our headbands, but we were too far away for them to get a clear view," Neji said. He glanced at Sakura, knowing the only reason she had seen their headbands was because of the twins' closer range and her sharp eyes, but the girl had been too far back to see any of their bands clearly. How was it that they suggested this?

"Think we should follow them?" asked Kankurou.

Gaara nodded.

"Then let's go," he replied, and the two of them disappeared into the trees.

"Wait! We're not being left out of this!" shouted Naruto.

"Just keep down and shut up!" replied Sakura.

Though the three of them had participated in the Chuunin exams the previous year, the exams hadn't been quite as expected. In the middle of Gaara and Sasuke's bout, there had been an attack on the village led by Orochimaru. After that, Sasuke had hunted Gaara, Kankurou, and Temari down, fighting Gaara until Naruto showed up, defeating the sand ninja. After his defeat, Gaara had somehow changed…he wasn't much nicer, and was still deathly quiet, but it seemed that he no longer killed people for pleasure.

Since then, the group had become a bit tighter, except for Sasuke disappearing into Orochimaru's clutches, Neji nearly dieing, and Temari heading home to the Land of Winds.

Gaara and Kankurou had apparently changed, though it was hard to tell sometimes. They didn't mind hanging around the others, if not for laughs.

The group arrived a few moments later at a cliff-edge, overlooking the village below.

"Wow! We found it!"

"Which is why you should never stop and ask!" screamed the other twin.

The only reason the five of them had found the trio was because of Oriki and Ariki screaming at each other. Neji hadn't even needed to use his Byakugan.

Tara turned and looked at the trees where the group of five was hiding.

"What is it, Tara?" Oriki asked.

She lifted her fingers and said, "Byakugan!"

Her eyes changed, becoming empty, and veins erupted around their edges. She lowered her hands and said, "They followed us."

"Come out, come out, we know you're there!" shouted Oriki.

Ariki merely tossed kunai into the trees, the five genin appearing. "Well, well, look at what curious kitties we have here."

"How can you do that?!" Neji gasped, looking at Tara. "You're not a Hyuuga!"

"No, she's not," replied Ariki with a cocky grin. "She has…various abilities of her own, though."

"Care to elaborate?" asked Sakura.

"Feh, no."

Gaara crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes locking with the girls.

"You don't look like a killer," she said suddenly, and all eyes turned to her.

"I've killed plenty."

"You're not a killer," she replied.

Gaara lifted his hand, sand dropping from his gourd, shifting around and approaching her. It began to wrap around her feet, sliding up her body, but she didn't move.

She didn't look scared, either.

It was like she wanted to die.

He waited until she was completely encased, save her face, before stating, "You will tell us what you're doing here. Sakura is correct—no one from the Rock Village has ever appeared at a Chuunin exam before. Why now?"

Ariki and Oriki just laughed.

"What's so funny?" asked Naruto. "You think he's kidding?! Tell us who you are!"

Oriki slapped Ariki on the back, and the other leaned against his twin. "Oh, that's rich!" one chimed, and the other replied, "I can't wait to see the look on their faces!" and the other continued, "Kill her, then, if you want!"

"Desert coffin!"

"Gaara!" gasped Sakura. "Are you kidding?!"

Gaara tightened his hand into a fist, the sand crushing the girl.

When the sand pulled away, the girl still stood. Her body was bent out of shape, but otherwise, she looked fine.

She lifted her hand, watching as the bones rearranged themselves, straightening and fixing themselves.

"That's new," she said, turning her arm around. "No one's ever tried crushing me before…"

Sakura's eyes were wide.

"What…what are you…?" whispered Kankurou.

She looked up at him, sickening cracks and crunches coming from her joints as her legs and back were reconstructed.

Ariki smirked. "It's a bloodline trait, indigenous to only our village."

"It's the Takura trait," said Oriki, mimicking his brother's grin. "They call it the Otiyaga."

"Like the Kaguya's?" asked Gaara. "How they can manipulate their bones?"

"No," sniggered Ariki. "Those freaks? Hell no! Tara here can do more than survive the crushing weight of your Desert Coffin…she can—well, I guess you'll find out eventually."

Neji glanced at her. "What about the Byakugan? That's a Hyuuga trait."

She looked up at him, and as if she were remembering something tasty, she licked her lips.

"I suppose it won't do any harm to tell you, because there's no way to counter it," said Ariki after a second of thought. "Her trait, the Otiyaga…well, watch." He pulled three kunai from his pouch and tossed them at her lazily.

They hit, and she stepped forward from the force, but was otherwise unwounded. She lifted her arm, revealing where the kunai had landed.

They were being sucked into her skin.

"Oh my god!" gasped Sakura, her hand over her mouth.

"That's gross!" Naruto said, eyes wide.

She turned her arm after the kunai had been absorbed, and suddenly, they shot back out, into a tree.

"She can repel any attack," said Oriki, looking at the kunai, and then back to the others. "No matter what you send at her, her skin will eat it and shoot it back at you."

"That still doesn't explain the Byakugan," said Neji.

"When an opponent of Tara's dies, she can absorb their blood, like the kunai, and then she learns their jutsu's, along with any bloodline traits…"

"The catch," the other twin continued, "is that she has to have at least a pint of it, or else she doesn't learn the traits."

She looked back at the others. "For example…Sharingan!"

Her eyes turned red.

"No…"

She looked at Sakura, and Gaara watched as she absorbed the girl's sudden pain and shock from her eyes. He recognized that look in her eyes—the look that desired pain from others, but there was still behind it…the chilling demand to die.

"W-who did you…who did you kill?" No doubt Sakura was thinking of Sasuke, her hand clutching at her chest. Even if he had become more powerful…could this girl really have killed him?

She shrugged.

"She doesn't take the time to learn her enemy's names," said Oriki. "They all blend together eventually."

"So, you see," said Ariki, "it's a good thing you aren't participating this year."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want to tell this to just anyone," laughed Oriki.

"And besides, even if you do tell anyone, it's not like they'll believe you. We're so unknown, and the trait is so rare, that telling anyone would result in nothing but embarrassment for you."

"Well, I suppose we can expect to see you five there," Oriki said, and he saluted, turning and jumping off of the cliff.

Ariki glanced back at Gaara. "Especially you, Gaara of the Desert; I'm sure you will find this most interesting." He followed his twin, and Tara, for a moment, merely stood, and then she backed up to the cliffs edge, and merely fell off.

Sakura ran over to the edge of the cliff, Naruto and the others in her wake. "She just…she just fell off!"

Tara's body was tumbling down the side of the mountain, and when she reached the bottom, she merely stood up and continued walking, her bones replacing themselves and her skin healing as if nothing had happened.

"I guess they're right about one thing," said Naruto slowly.

"What's that?" Kankurou.

"If she had been at the exam last year, would any of us have been able to defeat her?" Naruto asked, swallowing.

"I don't know," replied Sakura softly.

Gaara narrowed his eyes. That look in her eyes…the desire to die…it made no sense to him. No one wished for death—at least, not unless they were desperate. Was this girl as desperate to die as she seemed to be?